I am a little late at responding to the reading and I apologize. I was a little unsure how to respond. This reading was not as easy of a read for me as it seems it was for others in the group. I found certain areas of the paper confusing. I had to go back several times and read again to understand what was beening said. At times it seemed as if the paper was wordy.
However, I did like that the paper was broken down into the 5 principles. I did like the examples that were throughout the paper. I also liked the humor that I read. On page 16 when, considering vision...you see Mother holding a gin bottle...struck me as funny in an odd way. The "dung" talk was also strange, humorous and a very good example.
I thought that the author was detailed at explaining Evolution: past and present. I do not come to this class with as much background as some of you. Thus fore, I look forward to discussing ideas and thoughts. I also hope to get a clear picture of what the "mind" is and why?
Heather
Hi Everyone,
I finished the reading for this week and since I took Psychology 101 over 7 years ago I am proud to say I understood and could follow the paper...mostly.
I found it helpful how the paper was, in essence, broken down into the five principles that help explain the development of evolutionary psychology and that it started with an explanation of SSSM before jumping into the nitty gritty.
While I found the reading to be very interesting I'm still have a hard time fully wrapping my mind around the complexities of the study of evolutionary psychology. I understand the argument that "evolution designed the brain" based on our ancestors need to hunt, gather and survive the elements and that it took many centuries for our brains to develop into the sophisticated mechanisms they are today, but it's still a lot to take in. Especially, when you factor in aspects such as what in our brains cause our behaviors, how we are intuitive to others without being taught how to so. The intuition part real lay intrigued me as some people are far more intuitive than others...so is evolution the explanation for that? Or, is that even a relevant question?
I hope this is how we are supposed to start our group note taking. I'm sure as I look over the reading again I'll have more to add ;)
Ashley Notes:
Evol. Psych is a way of thinking about psych
Goal: to discover, understand and map human mind
We say animal ruled by instinct... So are humans but we call it something else: Reason
SSSM: mind is free of any of social constructs... Evolution is only applied to the body
the brain evolves to overcome our societal problems
The 5 Principles
The brain is a physical system (computer) generates behavior based on environment
The brain uses natural selection to solve problems our ancestors regularly faced (100 monkeys)
Our brain over simplifies things for us
Different parts of the brain solve/do different things
Our modern skull has a mind that has yet to evolve to its full potential
In group talk about:
The past explains the present section
-Maddie
Seems like a good start Ashley. I thought the reading was a good introduction to evolution, in general, in the way it explained selection. It was also interesting in explaining how behavior and hard-wired programs could be products of evolution. The part it did not seem to take into account was the flexibility of the brain and its circuits. The author spends some time discounting the ideas of the SSSM, particularly the idea of the blank slate. I find the argument of many specialized circuits working together, a toolbox of sorts, very compelling, but I don't necessarily think it does not leave room for a blank slate. It seems that human minds do have some capacity to develop new skills based on their environment and use. Maybe a system that is adaptive to novel environments was one of the circuits that evolved more recently, and could even been governed by the formal content-free logic which computers are designed with.
I also found the idea about happiness being a by product of other processes. Because it seems so many of us are driven to find happiness, peace, comfort, and yet so few of us achieve it. Almost like the drive itself has more of an evolutionary advantage than the outcome.
Another thing I would have liked to have been discussed more is the ideas of genes in evolution of the brain. The author touches on genes a bit, but mostly describes how a specific behavior could be an adaptation. It brings about a lot of questions about the proteins these genes code for, their role in the brain during development and after it has become fully formed. I always ask these questions as a biologist, and I don't know how much they will get answered in this class, but it is still very intriguing to think about.
-Alex
Week one:
Because one of my emphasizes is in Psychology I found most of this article to be a review of information I already have learned. I took direct notes from the article that should help me with further writings on the topic. While the reading was a review, I am not a fan of the writer’s voice in the piece of work. I was disappointed in the lack of writing style. I strongly believe in some type of evolutionary psychology but in this article I felt that the writers were too “all or nothing”. By that I mean the writers seems to weight too much on nature while completely alienating nurture.
1.Evolutionary psychology's past and present
a.Evolutionary psychology is an approach, not an area.
b.“the mind”
i.set of information-processing devices ii.William James (1890): instincts structure our thought so powerfully that it can be difficult to imagine how things could be otherwise
c.Evolutionary theories have made possible a flood of new observations and discoveries to be made
2.Back to Basics
a.Psychology is that branch of biology that studies (1) brains, (2) how brains process information, and (3) how the brain's information-processing programs generate behavior
b.Evolutionary psychology was founded on interlocking contributions from evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and anthropology, as well as many other fields, and cannot be understood without thinking through, from first principles, how these fields relate to each other and to the study of the mind.
i.Principle 1. The brain is a physical system. It functions as a computer. Its circuits are designed to generate behavior that is adaptive given your environmental circumstances. ii.Principle 2. The brain’s circuits were designed by natural selection to solve problems that our ancestors regularly faced during our species' evolutionary history. iii.Principle 3. Consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg; most of what goes on in your mind is hidden from you. As a result, your conscious experience can mislead you into thinking that our circuitry is far simpler that it really is. Most problems that you experience as easy to solve are actually very difficult to solve -- they require very complicated neural circuitry. iv.Principle 4. Different neural circuits are specialized for solving different adaptive problems.
3.Adaptive problems create adaptations.
4.What natural selection is not
a.Natural selection does not engineer organisms to necessarily act for the good of the species, for species survival, for social harmony, or even for personal happiness, health, or individual survival.
Hello Group #2,
I am a little late at responding to the reading and I apologize. I was a little unsure how to respond. This reading was not as easy of a read for me as it seems it was for others in the group. I found certain areas of the paper confusing. I had to go back several times and read again to understand what was beening said. At times it seemed as if the paper was wordy.
However, I did like that the paper was broken down into the 5 principles. I did like the examples that were throughout the paper. I also liked the humor that I read. On page 16 when, considering vision...you see Mother holding a gin bottle...struck me as funny in an odd way. The "dung" talk was also strange, humorous and a very good example.
I thought that the author was detailed at explaining Evolution: past and present. I do not come to this class with as much background as some of you. Thus fore, I look forward to discussing ideas and thoughts. I also hope to get a clear picture of what the "mind" is and why?
Heather
Hi Everyone,
I finished the reading for this week and since I took Psychology 101 over 7 years ago I am proud to say I understood and could follow the paper...mostly.
I found it helpful how the paper was, in essence, broken down into the five principles that help explain the development of evolutionary psychology and that it started with an explanation of SSSM before jumping into the nitty gritty.
While I found the reading to be very interesting I'm still have a hard time fully wrapping my mind around the complexities of the study of evolutionary psychology. I understand the argument that "evolution designed the brain" based on our ancestors need to hunt, gather and survive the elements and that it took many centuries for our brains to develop into the sophisticated mechanisms they are today, but it's still a lot to take in. Especially, when you factor in aspects such as what in our brains cause our behaviors, how we are intuitive to others without being taught how to so. The intuition part real lay intrigued me as some people are far more intuitive than others...so is evolution the explanation for that? Or, is that even a relevant question?
I hope this is how we are supposed to start our group note taking. I'm sure as I look over the reading again I'll have more to add ;)
Ashley
Notes:
- Evol. Psych is a way of thinking about psych
- Goal: to discover, understand and map human mind
- We say animal ruled by instinct... So are humans but we call it something else: Reason
- SSSM: mind is free of any of social constructs... Evolution is only applied to the body
- the brain evolves to overcome our societal problems
The 5 PrinciplesIn group talk about:
- The past explains the present section
-MaddieSeems like a good start Ashley. I thought the reading was a good introduction to evolution, in general, in the way it explained selection. It was also interesting in explaining how behavior and hard-wired programs could be products of evolution. The part it did not seem to take into account was the flexibility of the brain and its circuits. The author spends some time discounting the ideas of the SSSM, particularly the idea of the blank slate. I find the argument of many specialized circuits working together, a toolbox of sorts, very compelling, but I don't necessarily think it does not leave room for a blank slate. It seems that human minds do have some capacity to develop new skills based on their environment and use. Maybe a system that is adaptive to novel environments was one of the circuits that evolved more recently, and could even been governed by the formal content-free logic which computers are designed with.
I also found the idea about happiness being a by product of other processes. Because it seems so many of us are driven to find happiness, peace, comfort, and yet so few of us achieve it. Almost like the drive itself has more of an evolutionary advantage than the outcome.
Another thing I would have liked to have been discussed more is the ideas of genes in evolution of the brain. The author touches on genes a bit, but mostly describes how a specific behavior could be an adaptation. It brings about a lot of questions about the proteins these genes code for, their role in the brain during development and after it has become fully formed. I always ask these questions as a biologist, and I don't know how much they will get answered in this class, but it is still very intriguing to think about.
-Alex
Week one:
Because one of my emphasizes is in Psychology I found most of this article to be a review of information I already have learned. I took direct notes from the article that should help me with further writings on the topic. While the reading was a review, I am not a fan of the writer’s voice in the piece of work. I was disappointed in the lack of writing style. I strongly believe in some type of evolutionary psychology but in this article I felt that the writers were too “all or nothing”. By that I mean the writers seems to weight too much on nature while completely alienating nurture.
- 1. Evolutionary psychology's past and present
- a. Evolutionary psychology is an approach, not an area.
- b. “the mind”
i. set of information-processing devicesii. William James (1890): instincts structure our thought so powerfully that it can be difficult to imagine how things could be otherwise
- c. Evolutionary theories have made possible a flood of new observations and discoveries to be made
- 2. Back to Basics
- a. Psychology is that branch of biology that studies (1) brains, (2) how brains process information, and (3) how the brain's information-processing programs generate behavior
- b. Evolutionary psychology was founded on interlocking contributions from evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and anthropology, as well as many other fields, and cannot be understood without thinking through, from first principles, how these fields relate to each other and to the study of the mind.
i. Principle 1. The brain is a physical system. It functions as a computer. Its circuits are designed to generate behavior that is adaptive given your environmental circumstances.ii. Principle 2. The brain’s circuits were designed by natural selection to solve problems that our ancestors regularly faced during our species' evolutionary history.
iii. Principle 3. Consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg; most of what goes on in your mind is hidden from you. As a result, your conscious experience can mislead you into thinking that our circuitry is far simpler that it really is. Most problems that you experience as easy to solve are actually very difficult to solve -- they require very complicated neural circuitry.
iv. Principle 4. Different neural circuits are specialized for solving different adaptive problems.
- 3. Adaptive problems create adaptations.
- 4. What natural selection is not
- a. Natural selection does not engineer organisms to necessarily act for the good of the species, for species survival, for social harmony, or even for personal happiness, health, or individual survival.
Enjoy!!-Lora